WhatsApp Coming to Firefox OS – Could Ubuntu Touch Be Next?

 

With over 350 million active users a month across 100 countries, sending a staggering 18 billion messages a day, WhatsApp, the multi-platform mobile messaging service, is undeniably popular. 

And, if reports that it’s heading to Firefox OS are accurate, it’s about to get even more popular.

WhatsApp Goes WebApp

According to several leading tech sites in Spain, the telecoms carrier ‘Telefónica‘ has, apparently, confirmed that an official WhatsApp client will be released for FirefoxOS sometime before the year is out. The launch of the app will coincide with new Firefox OS-powered handsets from LG and Sony.

Spanning platforms is part of what has made WhatsApp popular. The more people who can use the service, the more money the company behind it can, potentially, make. Official clients are already available on Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone, as well as many others. Adding FirefoxOS to this line-up, if true, makes perfect sense.

With adoption of Firefox OS growing – another european carrier, Telenor, has announced plans to bring Firefox OS smartphones to Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary shortly – the arrival of big name apps like WhatsApp will become more and more commonplace.

Could such apps also find their way on to Ubuntu Touch?

We’ve since heard from a source that WhatsApp have “no plans” to support Ubuntu Touch.

While Canonical’s mobile OS lacks hardware partners, telecom carriers and definite release plans, it may find itself able to bask in the successes of Mozilla’s OS and its decision to push open, web-based technologies as a basis for its apps.

Any WhatsApp client running on Firefox OS will likely make use of HTML5, Javascript and open hardware APIs. As such, getting it to run on other platforms that embrace web apps, like Ubuntu Touch, wouldn’t require too much effort on the part of WhatsApp developers.

When you next see someone comment that they’ll only use Ubuntu Touch when it has a WhatsApp client, be sure to tell them that that day could be much closer than they think.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/11/whatsapp-on-firefox-os-ubuntu-touch

Ubuntu Tablet Will be ‘Key Focus’ During Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Cycle

 

Honing the Ubuntu Touch tablet interface will be the “focus” of Ubuntu’s development activities over the next 6 months.

For April 2014′s release of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Canonical are aiming to release version 1.0 of the Ubuntu for Tablets for the Nexus 7 and 10 hardware.

Ubuntu Touch images are already available for both tablets but lack support for hardware features like camera and sensors. Similarly, both the UI and Mir, the display server, lack tablet-specific optimisations.

Work on improving ‘side-stage’, the Windows 8-like feature for running two applications on screen side-by-side, will also get underway. To make use of this, many of Ubuntu’s core apps will be adapted to become “convergent” – better able to make use of larger screens and tablet workflows.

Several apps will also be redesigned.

Canonical Community Manager Jono Bacon says that ‘press, carriers and OEMs‘ are ‘excited’ by the tablet OS story, adding that tablets are “easy…for people to ship” due to the need to pass through fewer regulatory checks and certifications.

With no major carriers or OEMs yet to signal plans to adopt Ubuntu Phone, Canonical’s mobile plans may fare better on tablets. The cost to market is lower, with small computer resellers able to buy and import no-brand tablets from abroad and install the OS themselves.

Emulator, Phone 1.5 & New-Look Apps

While the push on the Tablet front will, Bacon says, command ‘a big chunk of focus’ this cycle, it’s not the only effort getting underway.

Work on adding an emulator to the Ubuntu SDK is ongoing. The goal is to allow developers lacking reference hardware the ability to test and iterate their apps within the Ubuntu Touch framework.

Ubuntu Phone 1.5

Ubuntu for Phones will reach version 1.5 in April next year. This milestone will feature improvements to the OS, including limits on the amount of memory apps can access and battery life optimisations.

Other key aspects, like vibration support, a way to shutdown and restart the phone, app ratings, reviews and purchases, etc, will also feature. So too  will a set of ‘expanded scopes’ featuring refinements to the way results are displayed and filtered.

Ubuntu Desktop

The Ubuntu desktop is unlikely to see any major changes this cycle, with Unity 7 remaining in ‘maintenance mode’.

The aim is to offer a preview session of Unity 8 (not desktop optimised) running on Mir as a login option in 14.04 LTS.

Full desktop convergence is not planned until nearer Ubuntu 14.10, due October 2014. Even then this is only a goal. The sheer undertaking involved in tailoring Unity 8 and Mir for desktop use may see it pushed back to Ubuntu 15.04.

 http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/11/ubuntu-tablet-will-key-focus-ubuntu-14-04-lts-cycle

Linux E-Mail App ‘Geary’ Updated With IMAP Fixes

 

Desktop Linux e-mail app Geary has been updated with a number of key bug fixes.

In the first update to the popular mail client since October’s major release of version 0.4, a number of issues have been corrected. They include a problematic crash that occurred when an IMAP connection timed out.

Other fixes listed by Yorba, the non-profit organisation behind the app, include:

• Compile-time support for WebKitGTK 2.2
• IMAP STARTTLS Connection Failure Bug Fix
• IceWarp IMAP Servers Crash Fix
• IMAP Connection Timeout Crash Fixed
• CamelCased MIME Type Fix, Preventing Blank E-mails
• Missing RTL Icons Added

Geary 0.4.1 can be installed on Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 from the official Yorba PPA.

Ubuntu 13.10 users should find this latest update available from the Ubuntu Software Center (or, if already installed, via the Software Updater) in the coming weeks

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/11/geary-0-4-1-released-bug-fixes

 

 

Motorola Moto G harga Murah spek mantap

Smartphone Motorola Moto G yang dikabarkan akan meluncur esok hari sudah menunjukkan wujud aslinya.
Dilansir Softpedia (12/11), dari foto yang pertama kali diunggah oleh situs Evleaks melalui akun Twitternya ini akan hadir di pasaran cover belakang warna-warni, layaknya smartphone Motorola Moto X.
Berdasarkan lansiran tersebut, kemungkinan Motorola Moto G ini akan dirilis di India. Hal ini semakin diperkuat dengan update status dari Motorola India. "Namaste India! Daftar hari ini untuk menikmati global streaming hari Rabu, dan jadilah orang pertama yang menyaksikan Moto G." tulis Motorola India di akun Facebooknya.
Motorola Moto G akan dilepas ke pasaran dengan dibekali spesifikasi seperti layar 4,5 inci 720pp dengan Gorilla Glass, prosesor quad-core 1,2GHz Snapdragon, RAM 1GB, internal memori 8 GB, kamera belakang 5MP dengan kemampuan perekaman video hingga 720p, dan kamera depan 1,3MP.
Smartphone yang akan menggunakan Android 4.3 Jelly Bean sebagai sistem operasinya ini juga akan didukung baterai dengan daya 1.950 mAh untuk menunjang agar Motorola Moto G bisa digunakan sepanjang hari.
Untuk perkiraan harganya, smartphone Motorola Moto G ini akan dibanderol dengan harga sekitar..



http://www.merdeka.com/teknologi/mengintip-warna-warni-motorola-moto-g.html

Kazam Thunder, smartphone canggih buatan para mantan bos HTC

Mungkin Kazam bukanlah produsen smartphone yang terkenal, namun perusahaan milik mantan jajaran eksekutif HTC ini diyakini akan menggebrak dunia gadget nantinya.

Dilansir Softpedia (6/11). Kazam yang dibentuk dari beberapa mantan petinggi HTC ini saat ini sudah meluncurkan satu smartphone baru bernama Kazam Thunder yang diperkirakan akan menjadi salah satu dari tujuh smartphone Android yang akan diluncurkan Kazam dalam beberapa waktu mendatang.
Kazam Thunder sendiri akan dilepas ke pasaran dengan mengusung spesifikasi seperti layar berukuran 4,5 inci dengan resolusi 480 x 854 piksel, prosesor quad-core 1,3GHz, dan RAM 1GB.
Selain itu Kazam Trooper ini akan dilengkapi dengan kamera 8MP di bagian belakang bodinya dan kamera 2MP di bodi depan untuk keperluan video call.
Sayangnya masih belum diketahui berapa harga dari smartphone Kazam Thunder ini nantinya di pasaran. Pihak Kazam juga belum menjelaskan apakah smartphone ini akan diluncurkan secara global termasuk ke Indonesia dalam waktu dekat.

 

http://www.merdeka.com/teknologi/kazam-thunder-smartphone-canggih-buatan-para-mantan-bos-htc.html

Menantu Idaman Orang Tua di Korea: Karyawan Samsung!

Seoul - Samsung adalah konglomerasi raksasa asal Korea Selatan. Jika pemuda Korsel ditanya tentang impian bekerja di perusahaan mana, sebagian pasti menjawab Samsung.

Bekerja di Samsung, yang bisnisnya tidak hanya di perangkat elektronik namun juga asuransi sampai pembuatan kapal, menjanjikan kesejahteraan tinggi di Negeri Ginseng itu.

Para orang tua di Korsel pun banyak yang mendambakan putranya bekerja di Samsung Group. Bahkan salah satu kunci pernikahan yang mulus katanya adalah dengan bekerja di Samsung. Pendek kata, karyawan Samsung adalah menantu idaman.

Samsung biasanya membuka lowongan kerja dua kali setahun. Tes yang harus dilalui para pelamar sangat berat dan terdiri dari beberapa tahapan.

"Saya akan mempersiapkan diri untuk interview dari pagi sampai malam nanti," kata Shin Seong Hwan, pemuda usia 25 tahun yang ayahnya bekerja di Samsung. Dia sukses dalam tes tahap awal dan saat ini latihan intensif agar lolos.

Dalam pembukaan lowongan kerja terakhirnya, Samsung hanya menerima 5.500 orang, padahal jumlah pelamar mencapai 100 ribu. Agar peluang lolos makin terbuka, tidak sedikit yang sampai mengikuti les khusus yang membahas soal ujian Samsung.

"Pekerjaan di konglomerasi besar akan menyelamatkan muka Anda dan membanggakan orang tua," kata Hur Jai-joon, periset senior di Korea Labor Institute yang detikINET kutip dari Reuters, Jumat


Selain Samsung, konglomerasi besar lain seperti Hyundai atau LG juga kebanjiran lamaran. Sayangnya, 30 konglomerasi paling top di sana hanya mempekerjakan 6,8% dari angkatan kerja Korsel sehingga kompetisi begitu panas.

Untuk latihan ujian, pelamar bisa membeli buku atau mengikuti les khusus. Biaya les bisa mencapai ribuan dolar.

"Tidak murah memang biayanya, namun mereka profesional dan saya bisa belajar banyak hal," kata Han Nam-gyu, pemuda usia 27 tahun yang membayar Rp 3 jutaan untuk ikut les.

Banyak sekali pelamar yang gagal masuk menjadi karyawan Samsung, namun banyak juga yang pantang menyerah. Mereka berencana akan ikut tes lagi pada kesempatan berikutnya.

"Aku benar-benar ingin masuk ke Samsung agar orang tuaku bisa membanggakan anaknya," ucap Han, salah seorang pelamar.



http://inet.detik.com/read/2013/11/08/151247/2407579/398/2/menantu-idaman-orang-tua-di-korea-karyawan-samsung